Main image: A former landing on Blythe Ferry Lane (Google Maps); Inset left: Tabitha Smith (Selfie); Inset right: Deputy RJ Leonard (Meigs County Sheriff’s Office).
A Tennessee sheriff’s deputy and a woman he had just arrested suffered a tragic fate together — drowning in the dark after taking a wrong turn into a river last week, Volunteer State officials said.
Robert John “R.J.” Leonard, Jr., 35, had only recently — months ago — moved to rural Tennessee from upstate New York with his family, according to 9th Judicial District Attorney General Russell Johnson.
An air of uncertainty permeates the night of the incident.
Leonard was responding to some sort of a call about an alleged disturbance on the bridge over the Hiwassee River. That call either came in about “a man jumping in and out of traffic” or “a man and a woman on the bridge who seemed to be fighting,” the DA said.
The deputy arrived on the scene at 9:48 p.m. on Feb. 14, officials said. Then, three minutes later, he radioed back to say an arrest had been made and he was en route to the Meigs County Jail. The nature of the arrest was not relayed. The identity of the arrestee was never shared.
Roughly 12 minutes later, at 10:03 p.m. another radio transmission came from the deputy’s patrol car, Johnson said at a press conference.
“Dispatch couldn’t tell what he was saying,” the DA said. “Or what he had said. And, it took a while and some analytics to go into play to see what was being — to try and understand what was being said. And we think he was saying ‘water.’ At the very same time, he was also texting his wife. It’s my understanding he sent a one-word text that said ‘arrest.’ … His wife texted back and said: ‘That’s good’ or ‘that’s great.’ We know that he did not receive — his phone did not evidently receive that text.”
After that, the county dispatch began a series of status checks. As time passed, various members of law enforcement from various surrounding law enforcement agencies began looking for Leonard.
The deputy’s patrol car was found near the Blythe Ferry boat ramp on the morning of Feb. 15; the car’s driver-side front window was rolled down and the deputy was initially nowhere to be found.
The ferry landing has not officially been in use since 1994 — but the landing is still used by private individuals to launch boats. For those unfamiliar with the area, particularly at night, the location is considered dangerous. Several cars have driven into the river in the past, authorities said. There is currently only one sign and one set of rumble strips that control traffic near the landing.
“It can be a very dangerous spot for folks that aren’t local,” Judge Casey Stokes said during the Thursday press conference.
Leonard fits that bill.
“So, if he wasn’t paying attention because he was distracted by the person in the back, or about trying to hit the radio, or sending a text at the same time, you could imagine he would go down that road,” Johnson said during a second press conference on Friday. “We’re operating under the theory that it was an accident — he missed his turn, he wasn’t familiar, and he was doing other things that may have caused him to go into the water.”
The patrol car was found nose-in and upside down, the district attorney said. The trunk was blown out from the water pressure.
“So, we’ve got a person in the back of the vehicle, we think it’s the female subject that was arrested, we don’t have an identification yet or confirmation on any of that,” the DA said. “A lot of mud in the front seat but no body in the front seat.”
The woman was later identified as Tabitha Smith, 35, a wife and a mother who leaves behind two children — a boy and a girl.
And, once the car hit the river, Smith never had a chance.
“The person found in the back seat compartment area of deputy’s vehicle was covered in a deep layer of mud and silt,” Johnson told Chattanooga-based ABC affiliate WTVC. “When the body was transported, it was apparent that it was a female, and that she was handcuffed. So she was in custody as was speculated from the Deputy Leonard’s calls to dispatch.”
Smith’s friends are shocked, confused, and in mourning.
“She was a happy person, outgoing, she loved life,” her friend Sheena Mchome told Knoxville-based CBS affiliate WVLT. “I could not imagine being trapped and knowing my life was going to end.”
And, Smith’s loved ones say: she deserved more than she got.
“She had a heart of gold, and despite any struggles and troubles she had, she was a great person,” her friend Emilie Neusel told WVLT. “I hope they remember her by her name. Tabby Smith. And I hope she’s remembered by more than the girl in the back seat.”
Leonard, a married father of five, was recovered by the Meigs County EMS and Rescue Squad with the assistance of dive teams from two other counties at around 6:40 p.m. on Feb. 15, officials said.
Johnson later clarified that the ongoing investigation determined the deputy was shouting the word “water” as he drowned.
We’ll probably never know Smith’s last words.
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